TEACHING EVALUATION IN AGRICULTURAL-ECONOMICS AND RELATED DEPARTMENTS

Departments use student evaluations of teaching (SETs) with little evi dence that evaluation forms and procedures measure or contribute to te aching quality. SETs in agricultural economics and related departments in the United States and Canada are examined hem in a resource alloca tion framework. Empirical models are estimated which characterize facu lty reliance on SETs and faculty satisfaction with SET forms. We find that departmental reliance on SETs increases with faculty participatio n, that faculty have specific preferences for SET form and content, an d that improvements in SETs are more likely to result from increasing the quality rather than the quantity of SET questions.